Petronel

Soirées Musicales presents Petronel Malan, pianist

Saturday, October 24, 2009

PETRONEL MALAN has enthralled audiences all over the world. She has been nominated for three Grammy Awards, including "Best Instrumental Solo Album 2004" for her debut disc Transfigured Bach: The Complete Bach Transcriptions of Bartok, Lipatti and Friedman. As an exclusive recording artist for the internationally award-winning label Hänssler Classic, she released Transfigured Mozart in 2006. Her latest disc in the "Transfigured" series is slated for international release in 2007. In addition to her recording activities, Ms. Malan maintains a full performance schedule as recitalist, orchestral soloist and chamber musician in major venues throughout the world. After her European debut in Rome in 1987, further highlights have included New York's Carnegie Recital Hall, Salle Cortot (Paris), the Mozarteum (Salzburg), the Liszt Museum (Budapest), Orchestra Hall (Chicago), Bass Hall (Fort Worth), as well as appearances at both Ravinia and the Gilmore International Piano Festivals. Petronel Malan has appeared with such orchestras as the St. Petersburg State Academy, Sicilian Chamber, Fort Collins, Elgin, and Bellevue Symphonies and the Cape Town and Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestras, under the batons of Vasily Petrenko, Dmitry Manilov, Yoshimi Takeda, Omri Hadari, Bernhard Gueller, Wolfgang Bothe, James Brooks, Robert Hanson, Don Freund, and Fuzao Kajima. Ms. Malan's career was launched following five gold medals in 2000 at international piano competitions throughout the United States. These included the Louise McMahon, Missouri Southern, Los Angeles Liszt Competition, and Hilton Head International Piano Competitions. In addition, she garnered the grand prize in the 2000 Web Concert Hall Competition and gold medals in both the Grace Welsh Piano Competition and the Entergy Young Artist Award.

Born in South Africa, Petronel Malan began lessons with her mother at the age of four, continuing with Adolph Hallis, a student of both Matthay and Leschetizky. Having debuted with the Johannesburg Symphony at age ten and subsequently winning all major national competitions in her native country, Ms. Malan moved to the United States to further her studies. Following a degree at Michigan State University, Petronel Malan completed her graduate work at the University of North Texas. Her teachers have included Steven de Groote, Ralph Votapek and Joseph Banowetz. Although a permanent resident of the United States, Ms. Malan continues her strong ties to her native South Africa. In 2003, she received the Rapport/City Press Prestige Award as one of the "Ten Most Inspirational Women in South Africa." A popular celebrity in her home country, she has appeared on magazine covers and features, as well as a picture-clue in crossword puzzles. Apart from a love for vintage gowns, Ms. Malan's stage wardrobe is designed by foremost South African designers such as Henja Schaap and Hip Hop Clothing. A frequent speaker and promoter for classical music in schools, music scholarships in her name are awarded annually to promising young South African musicians. Ms. Malan is a Blüthner Concert Artist, and uses these instruments exclusively for her recordings.
Petronel Malan's web site is: www.petronelmalan.com
PETRONEL MALAN last performed for Soirées Musicales on October 20, 2007.

"[Her] sound-shapes . . . allow ideas deep in the score to surface. Her finger work in the Ravel is meticulous, as is the tonal clarity in Malan’s delineation of voice in Bach’s musical puzzles.”
—The New York Times

PROGRAM

Sonata in A-flat, Hob. XVI:46

Allegro moderato
Adagio
Finale: Presto

Thirty-three Variations on Beethoven's Theme of 32 Variations in C minor

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Stephen Heller (1813-88)

INTERMISSION

Sonata (1917-18; rev. 1919)

Feroce; Allegretto con moto
Molto tranquillo; Appassionato
Allegro vivace

Moments Musicaux, Op. 16

Andantino in B-flat minor
Allegretto in E-flat minor
Andante Cantabile in B minor
Presto in E minor
Adagio sostenuto in D-flat major
Maestoso in C major

Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884-1920)

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)